Culture recruits 👏 Issue #61

Many companies local to ours are hiring, but getting mixed success. Experienced designers and developers are in short supply. There’s a handful of juniors, but many situations need a more experienced professional to fulfil key roles and “self-starters”.

I believe a strong company culture is at the heart of attracting and retaining good people, no matter what the size. I also believe we need a consistent model of training within teams. There’s also the subject of location. If employers can’t find the skills locally, then why not look into remote workers (like komoot are doing!)? Break down the barriers of hiring good people and focus on cultivating a creative company culture.

I’ve talked about the HEART Framework before, but it’s often hard to understand how to practically implement it. Here, Ty Magnin looks at how Google itself uses the framework to get the right UX metrics and improve upon their products.

I’ve taken a break from mentoring wannabe UX designers and instead looking at where my own skills need work. Essi Salonen, a Visual Designer at Fjord says that “mentoring helps designers sharpen their thinking”, something I’ve certainly acknowledged through my work with CareerFoundry.

When given a choice, do you sell in a marketplace like Amazon (ready with lots of traffic and the infrastructure required) or create your own store. I’m inclined to say go with both, but sometimes the two can undermine each other. Premium stores don’t do too well on Amazon and some brands want full control of the user experience and telling stories more than using an existing ecosystem .

Subscriptions businesses are more prevalent than ever. I remember when Adobe Photoshop went to that model. What it should do is bring in recurring revenue to reinvest in the product and to customers, give them a “pay as you go” formula which is far easier to budget for. Who is doing it well?

Is a bike just a bike? No! When it came to deciding what I needed from a bicycle, it came rather apparent that it had to be a custom build. Upcoming bicycle builder My Wild Love took my requirements and created this - an all-road gravel travel forever bike. Having had it a few months now, I’m so immensely happy with it and looking forward to the many adventures I’ll come to have with it. Paul and Dario are amazing guys too - check out their upcoming builds!

When companies prioritise the needs and motivations of staff (“How can we ensure they’re happy and fulfilled? How can we help them do a great job? How do we give them perks and benefits that align with our company values?”), they also end up with top-notch service from dedicated and knowledgeable workers who feel appreciated and invested in the company’s success.

This is really neat! Timesheets rarely seem to show what we actually work on when we’re working. That’s where Memory comes in - a way of tracking what you actually do in a day. It’s not accessible by managers (but kinda makes sense that some part of it should?).